First Trust Advisors LP Sells 5,394 Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT)

First Trust Advisors LP decreased its position in shares of PriceSmart, Inc. (NASDAQ:PSMT - Free Report) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,098 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,394 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.13% of PriceSmart worth $3,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PSMT. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in PriceSmart by 536.7% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 312 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in PriceSmart in the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in PriceSmart by 3,905.9% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 681 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in PriceSmart by 393.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in PriceSmart by 17,300.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 870 shares of the company's stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.46% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded PriceSmart from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th.

Insider Activity

In other PriceSmart news, EVP Paul Kovaleski sold 896 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.85, for a total transaction of $90,361.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,340,483.15. This represents a 2.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Fisher sold 1,700 shares of PriceSmart stock in a transaction on Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $161,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,911 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,606,545. The trade was a 9.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,796 shares of company stock worth $270,866 over the last 90 days. 17.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PriceSmart Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:PSMT opened at $100.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.23 and a beta of 0.87. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $89.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.63. PriceSmart, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.51 and a fifty-two week high of $102.82.

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The company reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.51 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. PriceSmart had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 2.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that PriceSmart, Inc. will post 5.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PriceSmart Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.63 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. PriceSmart's payout ratio is 26.92%.

About PriceSmart

PriceSmart, Inc owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. The company provides basic and private label consumer products under the Member's Selection brand, including groceries, cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, meat, produce, deli, seafood, and poultry.

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